1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to floor care appliances and, more specifically, to an airflow arrangement for a hard bag cleaner.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
The use of hard bag cleaners with air directing internal ribs in their bag cavities is well known. But, with the advent of the entrance of more cleaners having a clean air system in the marketplace, effective, efficient direction of dirt collecting bag discharge air towards such a cleaner's motor fan system has become more critical.
Effective and efficient direction of dirt collecting bag is also necessary in dirty or direct air systems to guide the airflow towards an exhaust opening formed in the hard bag cleaner. Heretofore, many direct or dirty air systems have included exhaust openings along the sides of the bag door of a hard bag vacuum cleaner which allow the exhaust from the vacuum cleaner filter bag to escape into the atmosphere. With consumers becoming more conscious about the purity of the air within their households, some vacuum cleaner manufacturers have added a final filter which filters the exhaust air emitted from the vacuum cleaner into the atmosphere. This final filter captures any minute dust particles which may have escaped the filter bag and adds another stage of filtration to the vacuum cleaner exhaust system.
Because an additional filter is added to these vacuum cleaners between the filter bag and the atmosphere outside the hard bag cleaner, it is important that vacuum cleaners with a direct air system have an effective and efficient direction of exhaust air towards the final filter to reduce turbulence and the resulting loss in the efficiency of the vacuum cleaner.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a cleaner having either a clean air system or a dirty or direct air system with an air directing arrangement which, downstream of the bag, minimized back pressures, eddy currents, noise and the like so that an efficient flow path could be established through the dirt bag cavity to provide a more effective vacuum cleaner suction air system.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to aid in the provision of a lower energy loss airflow path from dirt bag discharge to the cleaner suction fan.
It is a further objective of the invention to aid in the perversion of a low energy loss airflow path from dirt bag discharge to an exhaust opening covered by a final filter.
It is another object of the invention to provide a series of airflow directing vanes within a hard bag cavity to guide dirt bag discharge air.
It is a further object of the invention to provide airflow guide vanes on the internal side of a panel of a hard bag cleaner.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide these guide vanes of the bag door of the hard bag cleaner.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an improved internally vaned hard bag panel and/or bag door.